In the present invention, in an electromagnetic device that uses a coil current, such as a motor, an initial value of a desired coil current waveform is inputted, a magnetic field analysis is performed for the electromagnetic device, a power supply voltage waveform which is derived from a magnetic vector potential acquired from the analysis is calculated, and a circuit coupled magnetic field analysis is performed by using a fundamental waveform component of the calculated power supply voltage waveform, thereby providing a power supply voltage waveform calculation method and a circuit coupled magnetic field analysis method for obtaining a steady solution more quickly than in the conventional technique.

A method and device for determining the position of a rotor in a brushless motor is provided. The method generally includes: injecting electrical signals into a stator of the brushless motor; measuring scattering parameters reflected back from the stator, wherein the scattering parameters are influenced by the near-field dynamics impaired by the motor; and comparing the measured scattering parameters to a predetermined data set of scattering parameters for known rotor positions to determine the position of the rotor. The method and device is also suitable for determining a condition of a motor or a generator.

A power tool is provided including a housing, a brushless motor disposed within the housing, a power switch circuit that supplies power from a power source to the brushless motor, and a controller configured to apply a drive signal to the power switch circuit to control the supply of power to the brushless motor. The controller is configured to receive at least one signal associated with a phase current of the motor, detect an angular position of the rotor based on the phase current of the motor within a variable speed range of zero to at least 15,000 rotations-per-minute (RPM), and control the drive signal based on the detected angular position of the rotor to electronically commutate the motor within a power output of zero to at least 1500 watts.

A power tool is provided including a housing, a brushless motor disposed within the housing, a power switch circuit that supplies power from a power source to the brushless motor, and a controller configured to receive at least one signal associated with a phase current of the motor, detect an angular position of the rotor based on the phase current of the motor, and apply a drive signal to the power switch circuit to control a commutation of the motor based on the detected angular position of the rotor. The controller detects an initial sector within which the rotor is located at start-up, apply the drive signal so as to rotate the motor to a parking angle associated with the detected initial sector, and control a commutation sequence to drive the motor beginning at the parking angle.

A method for estimating a magnet temperature of a rotor magnet within a rotary electric machine includes, while a rotor of the electric machine is stationary, injecting a high-frequency voltage component onto a control voltage of the electric machine, via a controller, to generate an adjusted voltage command, and extracting a high-frequency component of a resulting current as an extracted high-frequency component. The method also includes calculating an inductance value of the electric machine using the extracted high-frequency component of the resulting current. The magnet temperature is estimated using the calculated inductance value and an angular position of the rotor. The method includes controlling an operation of the electric machine using the estimated magnet temperature. An electric powertrain uses the electric machine and controller noted above.

In one aspect, a system for determining an initial angular position of a rotor of a synchronous machine includes a motor driver module configured to provide a motor driver voltage signal to the synchronous machine, the motor driver voltage signal being sufficient to induce an electrical current in the synchronous machine; and a rotor position determination module configured to receive an indication of the current generated in the machine and to determine the initial position of the rotor based on the indication of the current generated in the machine. The motor driver voltage signal includes at least a first portion, a second portion, and a third portion, the first portion has a first non-zero voltage during a first temporal duration, the second portion has a second non-zero voltage during a second temporal duration, and the third portion has a substantially zero voltage during a third temporal duration, the first portion has a first polarity and the second portion has a second polarity that is opposite to the first polarity, and the first temporal duration and the second temporal duration are different.

A method for determining a rotation variable of a rotatably mounted rotor of a mechanically commutated electric motor, having a motor current path formed between two brush elements of the electric motor, and leading via the commutator bars contacted by the brush elements, and via coil windings of the rotor electrically connected to said commutator bars, wherein an oscillating input signal is fed into the motor current path and the rotation variable is determined with the aid of a ripple of a resultant output signal, said ripple being due to the mechanical commutation of the motor current path.

A method and an apparatus may detect a rotor magnetic pole of a single-phase BLDC motor. The method and apparatus may quickly and precisely initially drive the single-phase BLDC motor by detecting a position of a magnetic pole of a rotor adjacent to a stator by applying a high frequency voltage to the single-phase BLDC motor and analyzing a magnitude of a flowing current.

For high frequency injection (HFI) transition disturbance elimination, a processor directs an HFI transition for a motor. The processor determines compensation pulse voltages for an HFI compensation pulse. The processor further injects a sum of the HFI compensation pulse and an HFI voltage into a current regulator voltage output signal for a compensation Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) cycle. The HFI compensation pulse settles an HFI current to a steady state

For high frequency injection (HFI) transition disturbance elimination, a processor directs an HFI transition for a motor. The processor determines compensation pulse voltages for an HFI compensation pulse. The processor further injects a sum of the HFI compensation pulse and an HFI voltage into a current regulator voltage output signal for a compensation Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) cycle. The HFI compensation pulse settles an HFI current to a steady state.